Sentinel node imaging and biopsy in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND

Several techniques have been shown to be accurate in identifying axillary sentinel lymph nodes. The accuracy of subareolar blue dye injection is compared with intraparenchymal radioisotope injection.

METHODS

Forty-two consecutive patients with breast cancer were injected with both intraparenchymal technetium-99m and subareolar isosulfan blue dye. After sentinel lymph node identification, an axillary lymph node dissection was performed.

RESULTS

The blue dye and the technetium-99m localized to the same axillary nodes even though the injection sites were different. The sensitivity of blue dye in identifying axillary sentinel nodes was 100%. The sensitivity of radioisotope injection in identifying sentinel nodes was 97.6%.

CONCLUSIONS

Subareolar blue dye injection is an extremely accurate and cost-effective method of sentinel node identification in breast cancer patients.